I disagree that they were boring, but ironically enough they're mostly interesting precisely because Elder Lyons was going against the grain to make them the good guys (mostly). Especially when you talk about them in the context of an arc that does end with Maxson's coup.

I think they came across as boring because the player is somewhat groomed to look at them as the good guy faction, doing mostly good guy things in a situation that desperately needs someone like that, and we go "obviously this is the right thing to do" but, as you mentioned, the BoS shouldn't be those guys.

Which is kind of funny, because FO3 was designed to introduce a new generation of gamers to the Fallout world but you won't really understand why Elder Lyon's decisions are unpopular with some Brotherhood unless you've seen the before and after.

I also liked the parallel between Lyons and the Fallout 1 Elder. In Fallout 1 they aren't quite as fashy as an organization yet but even when faced with an opponent that is everything they are clearly sworn to fight against, actually doing their job is unpopular, going by the comments of the council and the rank and file in the base.

They just want to steal tech and live in bunkers, man, none of this "protecting humanity from the perils of mad science" business.